Technology's Role in Creating Equitable Learning Environments

           As Johnson (2011) states, “Let’s begin where all aspects of education should begin: the learner.” 21^st century learners, sometimes referred to as digital natives, comprise a diverse set of learners. To support this diversity of learners, pedagogy needs to be fair, culturally relevant, infused with technology, equitable and relevant. Learning tools for digital natives are also changing. Johnson (2011) describes this change in learning tools in that we are moving from chalkboards, pens and pencils to interactive chalkboards, computers and mobile technology. News and information now comes from blogs and web sites, and publishing is something that is done online and that anyone can do. Most digital natives today own their own mobile devices, such as cell phones and laptops. Digital natives are heavily engaged with digital tools, learning both inside and outside the classroom. Digital natives are eager to innovate and create. They are preparing themselves for jobs that do not yet exist. Therefore, digital tools provide personalized, relevant instruction that helps learners make sense of the information-rich world that they live in.

            Therefore, to engage digital learners in learning, there is a need for creation of new pedagogies of teaching that involve technology. Yet, there is a problem with the creation of new pedagogies for today’s learners in that teachers are not prepared to teach with technology. Many of today’s teachers come from a different generation than their students. They are teaching students with the structures of 20^th century education that they were taught with. These teachers do not realize that this new generation of students are being disservice and not taught well using 20^th century pedagogy. There is also a problem in 21^st century education in that there are cultural gaps all the way from policy makers down to teachers. The United States has become even more of a melting pot and students today come from a variety of culture, have a variety of first languages, and are fluent in the ways of technology. Students today have all kinds of technology available to them at their fingertips (Johnson, 2011).

            Making education more multicultural promises to revolutionize education. There is a lot of potential in using technology in 21st century classrooms. It has the potential of fighting against racism and promoting active participation in democracy. Hossain and Aydin (2011) provide a model of how to achieve multiculturalism in a technology-oriented classroom. Their proposed model focuses instruction around cultural integration and cultural exposure. Hossain and Aydin (2011) believe that by incorporating technology into the learning environment, students will learn real world skills and acquire the savvy to keep up to date in a world that is rapidly changing.

            Prensky (2010) states that digital natives need an education that teaches students about the real world they live in. While technology can give students the tools to learn in the real world, the problem is with the teachers integrating these technological tools in their classroom. The readings in Units 1-4 discuss different theoretical frameworks that could possibly best educate digital learners. Two of the frameworks discussed that could possibly best educate learners are: Partnering and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK).

            Prensky’s (2010) partnering framework allows students and teachers to learn together in the classroom. Partnering allows teachers to do what they do best. In this framework, teachers move from being “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side” (Prensky, 2010). Teachers take on the role of being a guide, mentor, or coach to students by asking guiding questions and contextualizing material. The most important thing about partnering is that teachers do not lecture. Instead, they provide a series of guiding questions that students can answer about the content and suggest technological tools and resources that students can use to best find the information to the questions. The students’ role in partnering are to answer the questions, to share their thoughts with their peers, practice the material that they are learning through games, and then create presentations using multimedia. The 21^st century pedagogy of partnering is directly opposite of its 20^th century pedagogy of direct instruction. Partnering is student-centered, active learning, and inquiry based. However, partnering cannot be adapted in today’s schools without the use of technology and a multi-cultural context. These elements are critical as they eliminate cultural bias (Prensky, 2010).

            Another framework that could possibly best educate students is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) described by Banister and Reinhart (2011). The authors describe how to use TPCK as a social justice framework of addressing the digital divide. TPCK used with its full impact can affect the digital divide and the achievement gap. In today’s reality, many low-income and rural areas in the U.S. lack access to broadband internet. Therefore, by using TPCK’s social justice framework, technology can be integrated into the learning environment, thus providing marginalized students with more equitable access to technology. As technology is not accessible to these students in their homes, using technology in the classroom can compensate for the inequitable access (Banister & Reinhart, 2011).

            To use the framework of TPCK in their teaching, teachers must incorporate certain aspects into their teaching. Teachers need to: value their students’ thoughts, opinions, perspectives, and diverse intelligences in a classroom grounded in constructivist pedagogy; teachers must create a democratic classroom; and foster critical thinking. When these aspects are firmly in place in the classroom, this will result in students who: strive to graduate, believe in themselves, and are prepared for a successful future. Therefore, teachers who successfully integrate TPCK into their teaching impact social justice and the digital divide by implementing sound 21^st century pedagogical techniques, use technology at high levels, support the theoretical framework of TPCK, and have a constructivist and democratic classroom.

            Ladson-Billings (2013) firmly states that addressing the inequity in all aspects of society, including education, is something that we all should understand. Further, we all need to share the responsibility in addressing inequities in education, such as the digital divide and the achievement gap. By sharing in the responsibility for inequities in education, we also share the responsibility for coming up with pragmatic solutions, beyond Band-Aid measures. Ryoo, Margolis, Lee, Sandoval & Goode (2013) believe in the concept of equity across curriculum. Ryoo et al. (2013) propose that engaging students is primary. In order to engage students, the curriculum needs to be relevant and built upon students’ passions.

            As an online teacher of Sociology, utilizing the frameworks of partnering and TPCK together with curriculum that is focused on equity, I find that discussion boards fit well into these frameworks. They incorporate technology, pedagogy, content, context with a partnering framework of students and teachers learning together. As a Sociology teacher, I can facilitate discussions, guide students on where to find outside resources, and share my unique perspective on inequity. This guides students in coming up with practical solutions and understand root causes of socio-political, cultural, and economic issues such as oppression, race, and racism. My experience with discussion boards is that it provides students with the opportunity to excel. As my students come from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, discussion boards have proven to be a powerful learning tool that pushes students to excel in their learning and have more cultural respect for others. I also find that discussion boards make learning highly relevant as students share their everyday living experiences related to the contextualized environment. They are also highly equitable; all students are able to share their thoughts and ideas. In a traditional classroom, there are always students who are reserved and may feel embarrassed to raise their hand or speak up in front of the class. There are also equity issues in the traditional classrooms in how students dress, the color of their skin, and other quirks that may prevent them from speaking up in class for fear of ostracism or embarrassment. Therefore, discussion boards have an equalizing effect, students often speak up more in online discussion forums because they feel anonymous and know that they will not see their classmates physically in their everyday life. That is why discussion boards are highly effective from a TPCK and Partnering framework; they are culturally relevant and equity-oriented in a highly contextualized environment. As the teacher, I take into account my students’ diversity, I listen to their voices, thoughts and opinions, their cultural backgrounds and their native languages. Discussion boards values what students know, their life backgrounds and histories, and they are a resource for other students.

References

Banister, S., & Reinhart, R. V. (2011). TPCK for impact: Classroom teaching practices that promote social justice and narrow the digital divide in an urban middle school. Computers in the Schools, 28(1), 5-26.

Hossain, M. M., and Aydin, H. (2011). A Web 2.0-based collaborative model for multicultural education. Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, 5(2), 116-128. 

Johnson, S. (2011). Digital tools for teaching: 30 e-tools for collaborating, creating, and publishing across the curriculum. Gainesville, FL: Maupin House.

Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2013). “Stakes is high”: Educating new century students. The Journal of Negro Education, 82(2), 105–110.

Ryoo, J. J., Margolis, J., Lee, C. H., Sandoval, C. D. M., & Goode, J. (2013). Democratizing computer science knowledge: Transforming the face of computer science through public high school education. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 161–181. doi: 10.1080/ 17439884.2013.756514